On SV Aphrodite, a St Francis 50 catamaran

Duncan Town, Ragged Island

I’m writing this blog from Duncan Town. Here, goats cross the street, and cars are few and far between. Local resident, Maxine Wallace, tells me that the town population is 70 people.

Internet access is available at the local clinic. We rely on WiFi. We have no Internet access on the boat otherwise. The clinic waiting room is outdoors. You can sit in the chairs and use the Internet for free. Here is a picture of my family outside the clinic.

Family Escher outsider the clinic in Duncan Town, Bahamas.

Here, abandoned houses cozy up to well-inhabited structures. We saw a laundry machine on the front porch of one house along with some rusty bicycles. But, the local grocery store is impeccable, save for a few ants that danced about the sugar. I bought two bags and then put them in the freezer.

Maxine showed me her dried conchs yesterday.

Dried conchs in Maxine’s outdoor kitchen.

The conchs are sent by mail boat to sell in Nassau.

Maxine, by the way, is the cousin of Edward, who you would know if I could post blogs more frequently.

We met Edward a few days ago on Buenavista Cay. He is the sole resident of the island and is very friendly. Edward has no motorized method of transport. He has no generator, which means he has no refrigeration, and appears to sleep in a hammock on the main level of his dwelling. Here is a picture taken in Edward’s yard.

Edward’s house on Buenavista Cay, Bahamas.

Edward showed us his chickens, peacocks, dogs, and garden. He grows papayas, peanuts, corn and sweet potato. All of his water is supplied by rain.

Here is a picture with Edward and our son, Paul.

Edward and Paul (holding a Bahamian chicken)

Edward was our first human contact since we left Georgetown a few days ago. Before that, we were exploring a cave at Flamingo Cay and viewing sharks from our dinghy. Here is a picture taken from inside the cave.

Inside the cave at Flamingo Cay, Bahamas.

Natural light shines through holes in the ceiling of the cave. We went a low tide, and saw sharks swimming close to shore.

Anyone for swimming? Shark fins emerge near the beach at Flamingo Cay.

Thanks to everyone who sent birthday wishes to our twins. It was their birthday yesterday. They are now five years’ old.

We are spending one more night in Duncan Town before working our way south. We hope to see more reefs and perhaps some flamingos before we leave the Bahamas.

Hi, we are a cruising family heading down the icw right now toward the Bahamas. It’s late Sept, and we’ve been at it for about 3 weeks and I’m starting to realize my kids would love to meet up with other kids! Just reaching out to see where you guys might be located now! -Emily Bennett (bennettsatsea.wordpress.com)

Thanks-I just actually got hooked up with that page and it’s great! We hope to be in luperon in early 2017-will you still be there? Hope we can meet up sometime -do you have kids on board too? Safe travels!

We have for kids onboard. We plan to leave Luperon in mid-December. We plan to sail south – but, we aren’t in a hurry. We plan to savor the leeward and windward islands as much as we can. So perhaps we can meet. I will follow your blog. Say hi to your kids for us!